Paper 4 post

I've tried to get most of the basic ideas down. I've still got to build up a third point but I can't really synthesize it just yet. Also, the main body of this essay is just bare bones, I'll add more detail with the dialogue interactions to further my point of change.

Tim O’Brien’s personal account of the Vietnam War in his book “If I Die in a Combat Zone” serves a greater purpose in that of personalizing the war. His vivid imagery, scenarios, and his gradual decline as what he used to perceive as a rational human being is evident within the book. O’Brien links this decline with the acceptance of fear of the war as well as what constitutes courage. O’Brien’s changes throughout the book parallel so many perceptions of the Vietnam War. The war changed so many of the lives that fought in the war from experienced soldiers of past wars to the youth of the day. O’Brien writes from his experience as a fresh college graduate introduced into the war. And like so many others around him, he too changes.

O’Brien's personal convictions change dramatically during the war. He paints a picture of an ideal Midwest childhood and a college background that paints the picture of so many ideal American men. He possesses a good background with a strong presence of military service evident within his father and his mother. It seems destiny had already made plans for O’Brien to follow in his family footsteps. Yet O’Brien possesses a keen intellect that he makes a point to prove that it separates him from the everyday All American male. It is as if O’Brien recognizes another spectrum of personality that most Vietnam history seems to forget. The personality of a humanist. O’Brien makes a compelling case that he doesn’t believe in the Vietnam War, that all life is valuable to an extent. This sentiment surely was shared by many who served their country in Vietnam and it is a sentiment that deserves more critical insight. However, this belief is challenged from the very day that O’Brien becomes a member of the United States Army. His accounts of the dialogue are extremely powerful in showing the process of a much practiced method used by the military. With constant scrutiny and harassment for being an outsider, O’Brien soon realizes that it is much easier to go with the grain than against. His attitude that he is better than all of the men in the training facility soon reserves itself. This method is what shapes the American belief of the army. The hard nosed drill sergeant and the no nonsense attitude shared by all of the higher ranked officers seems to break each and every person that steps into the basic training facility. It seems basic training also becomes the stepping stone of O’Brien to become a conditioned soldier. Here, he meets what he believes to be evil in the flesh in his drill instructor Blyton. It is also here that he learns that “fear of weakness. Fear that to avoid war is to avoid manhood.”(pg. 38) is the common mantra. And it is with this cattle mentality, as he mentions early on, that O’Brien begins to really question his beliefs. Once he enters the combat zones, war begins to shape his ideas. He gradually becomes desensitized and it becomes all to evident within his writing. He talks of savagery in battle and serious injuries as if they are regular occurrences. His time as a radio operator no longer permitted him to put names and faces too all of the victims. Just a number and a area location for a dust off. It seems that within war, there was no time to truly think. Not in the middle of battles. Only in retrospect does anything make sense for O’Brien. These experiences show the truth of the matter of Vietnam. While O’Brien is a sane man, the insane nature of war shapes him into a grunt. This transition is what most who criticized the war at the time would consider a war junky attitude. For O’Brien, his understanding is that people don’t naturally become the so called heartless baby killers who wasted civilians because they simply want to. They had no choice. They became war itself.
O’Brien’s environment shaped his progression as well. This is such a pivotal part of O’Brien’s experience as this is often the reason for why so many changed in Vietnam. First, O’Brien describes life at Fort Lewis at the base of Mount Rainier. Here, O’Brien tried to keep his rebellious attitude towards the army and it’s practices. Yet, like the mountain itself, this seemed too tall of a task. The mountain almost seems to symbolize the strong resolve and unwavering belief of the army. Their beliefs are time tested and weathered but still as strong as stone itself. Here, O’Brien learns the first lesson of acquiesce. He begins to adopt the army and it’s policies. Like O’Brien’s situation, much of the young population going through basic felt the same way. Most were already put into a fear inducing situation that allowed the military to mold it’s soldiers the way it saw fit. This is the start of what O’Brien considers courage. The ideas of self sacrifice and to lead the charge without thinking begin to grow in the minds of the FNG’s as O’Brien would say. But as time would go on, and O’Brien makes his way to Vietnam, the idea of courage would take on a whole new meaning. Once in Vietnam, O’Brien paints the picture of a world in a constant state of madness. Artillery fire is often met with a barbecue. In a time of panic, the state of mind for most experienced soldiers is often that of a manageable calm. This world seems to have been created by war but also by the people as well. O’Brien seemingly goes through this transition whether he wants to or not. The constant pace of movement and routine village sweeps keep him from really contemplating why he was even in the war to begin with. It is within the dense forests and random clearings that O’Brien learns to detach from the world. This world has one rule, survive. And everything in this world operates on a new language. It is here that O’Brien learns that nicknames suffice for identity. It seems to lessen the impact of a fallen comrade to the company. Here, Vietnamese people are not known by their names but rather their looks, characteristics and the simple term of gook.